E. Junod, On the danger of writing, RThPh 2009/IV, p. 363-375.
In the beginning of the preface to his first published work, Origen says that for a long time he refused to write, “knowing the danger, in holy matters, not only of speaking, but even more of writing and leaving written works to posterity.” After a brief research on what it might have meant to write and publish in the 3rd c., attention is given here to the possible dangers he suggests. Five hypotheses are proposed : the cost in time, falsifications of documents, the eventuality that the message would be read by others than those for whom it was intended, the inertia of the act of writing, the introduction of writings besides Holy Writ.